De le Rosa: HRT 'flying' past targets

Pedro de la Rosa says HRT has accomplished its goals for the 2012 season with "flying colours" during some periods of the campaign.

Although the Spanish squad failed to qualify for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, it has managed to compete with its most direct rival Marussia since then.

"Without a doubt," said de la Rosa when asked if the targets set have been met. "We're accomplishing them and with flying colours at times. We started outside the 107 per cent in Australia and we've reached peaks of 103.6 per cent in Monaco and our best qualifying result which was 103.4 per cent in Valencia.

"That was a very ambitious target that we set ourselves because, for us, to be close to 104 per cent is a realistic objective. We've surpassed it and have potential to do more.

"In our case, it's going to be easier to improve in this second half of the season than it will be for a big team that is striving for perfection because we've got much more room for improvement. For now we've accomplished our objectives but there are still many races to set ourselves more ambitious targets."

The Spanish driver believes that this progress will provide a great boost for the team ahead of the 2013 season.

"If we manage to qualify inside the 103 per cent it will be a complete success," he said. "Especially doing so without KERS and a much less effective DRS system than the other teams. But it's going to be very difficult because at the last grands prix the difference has been a bit bigger.

"If we manage to be under 104 per cent with the aero package for Singapore it will be a great finish to the season and the necessary momentum to start next season strongly."

De la Rosa, whose best result this season has been a 17th place in the European Grand Prix, says the team has grown significantly since the start of the season, and reiterated his belief that moving the headquarters to Madrid has helped HRT a lot.

"The team is going through a period of change and growth and now we've got a fantastic headquarters that has transformed the team. We've got a base from which it is growing day by day. No one has stopped pushing, no matter what the situation. And we've felt supported.

"It's not easy being at the back and finishing last. But what motivates us every day is that we see that we're improving and we believe that we won't be at the back for long. It's very nice to see that, despite the fact that it's being very tough, we believe in that step forward."